Downstate Medical Center with the support of the NIH sponsored Multipurpose Arthritis Center Grant has been studying various aspects of rheumatology education, research and community health care in Brooklyn. Through year 2, we have had three components (research, education and community services. In year three, there are no research components. 1. Our education component is the largest of our center grant and involves the training of medical students, housestaff, primary care physicians (in-patient and out-patient) and nurses in the hope of influencing the care of patients with arthritis related conditions; an in depth cost/benefit analysis is being undertaken to determine if such training is beneficial, cost effective and what modifications in our present system of educating these groups of health professionals needs to be done. In general, the level of care of the patients involved with these groups of health professionals will increase. 2. The last component is our community services: here we are attempting to determine the factors that influence a patient with an arthritis relation condition to choose or not choose an entrance into the health system; some choices are more beneficial than others, more expensive and more harmful than others; if the factors that determine the utilization of our health care system are determined, we can then modify them to deliver better, more cost effective health care. We have set up several "self-help" groups to study the nature of these groups in patients with rheumatologic disorders; are these groups similar to or distinctly different from other self help groups with chronic disorders? The last project involves a comparison of care by rheumatologists and primary care physicians for patients with similar rheumatic diseases. Year three of our Multipurpose Arthritis Center Grant involves completing data collection; we have developed and are utilizing a number of questionnaires developed by us (and shared with other centers), chart auditing, and computer techniques for categorizing and evaluating the data.